ECW Original Raven recently appeared as a guest on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast and spoke about some issues he had during his early run in WWE, as well as his thoughts on a potential return to the company. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On what he felt the best match at WrestleMania 19 was:
“[Jericho] and Michaels had a phenomenal match, but I still thought that the best match, no offense, on the card was Hulk and Vince because Vince’s facials and they didn’t have 20 minutes of false finishes. I think they had just a comeback and go home, right? But I remember there was this one spot where Vince picked something up and he peers. Like, his head pops up and he’s peering over across the ring and the camera picks it up and I’m like, ‘oh, what a shot!'”
On leaving WWE during his run as Johnny Polo in the 1990s due to the company’s sex policy:
“Nobody leaves this company on their own terms. I did, so that was heat. Then, there [were] some other things that I can’t get into that were heat and so it was a whole confluence of things that were partially my fault, definitely partially my fault, and just circumstances. They made the policy that talent couldn’t sleep with the office people. I was proud of that.”
On getting heat with Vince McMahon for partying with Shane McMahon:
“They used to call me Johnny Port Chester Polo because Stamford [Connecticut], they rolled the sidewalks up at one o’clock, but Port Chester [New York] was open till, like, five in the morning. It’s, like, five miles away. My downfall was I’d bring Shane out with me, Shane McMahon. And the boys are like, ‘ah, you’re sucking up to him’ and I’m like, ‘no, I’m not! I’m burying myself’ because he’d call his dad, and on commentary, I’d call his dad ‘Vic’ instead of ‘Vince’, so he’d go, ‘hey, Vic,’ which is just horrible! He’d say, ‘hey, Vic, it’s,’ and it would be, like, four in the morning, ‘I’m just going to sleep at Johnny Polo’s tonight’ and so I just buried myself.”
On the possibility of a WWE return:
“Honestly, if I could go back, if I could go there now, I don’t think I would because I’d rather be semi-retired. If I had an opportunity to come in, which I don’t, but if I had an opportunity to come in and do what I wanted to do the way I wanted to do it, I’d take that in a heartbeat. But the odds of me ever getting that and the odds of them ever hiring me are [astronomically small], but the odds of me getting to do what I want to do are beyond [astronomically small].”
